Team-By-Team: British Grand Prix, Silverstone
McLaren were hit hard by the clarification
in the exhaust-blown diffuser rules over the
course of the weekend, as they struggled
to keep pace with Ferrari and Red Bull
ahead. Qualifying 5th and 10th, Button and
Hamilton trailed the lead quartet at the start,
but slowly reeled them in and Button could
have finished on the podium had he not
retired with a loose wheel nut. Hamilton had
to save fuel in the final stint and just about
held off Massa for fourth at the death.
As in Canada, Red Bull lost out on victory
through another mistake, this time in the
pitlane when Vettel lost seven seconds with a
delay on the left-rear tyre. Red Bull enjoyed a 1-
2 for the first half of the race, but with Alonso
upping his pace from mid-distance and Vettel’s
pitstop problem, the reigning champions
had to make do with a 2-3 finish. Webber lost
the lead to Vettel from pole and went against
team orders to challenge him for second in the
closing laps, but without success.
Renault endured another challenging weekend
as Nick Heidfeld came home with the team’s
only points in eighth place, although it was still
a vast improvement on their qualifying pace.
Heidfeld’s progress began by picking up two
places at the start, before gradually climbing
through the field on a two-stop strategy.
Petrov was unlucky to miss out on points after
being involved in a three-way battle for tenth
with Alguersuari and Sutil. He finished 1.5
seconds adrift of the final point.
Mercedes’ weekend should have yielded
much more than sixth and ninth places after
Schumacher was hit with a 10-second stop/go
penalty, robbing the German and his team of at
least four more points if not significantly more.
He had been running strongly until tangling
with Kobayashi, earning him the penalty and
dropping him down the order. He recovered
to ninth as Rosberg fended off Sauber’s Sergio
Perez in the fight for sixth, but Schumacher
believes he could have challenged for fourth or
fifth had things gone to plan.
Poor pace on the intermediate tyre in the
first phase of the race proved to be an
insurmountable challenge to Williams as they
failed to capitalise on Pastor Maldonado’s
best qualifying of the year in seventh. The
Venezuelan had dropped to 13th by lap 6 as
he struggled to keep the car on the road and
fell further behind on his three-stop strategy.
Barrichello’s two-stop strategy allowed him to
leapfrog his team-mate, crossing the line in
formation in a disappointing 13th and 14th.
Alonso’s first victory of 2011 could scarcely have
come at a better time as he fights to stay in the
title hunt and made for an apt celebration of
the 60th anniversary of Ferrari’s first F1 victory,
at Silverstone in 1951. Although he struggled
initially on the switch over to slicks after the
stint on intermediates, once his tyres were up
to temperature Alonso’s pace went unmatched
and he got the break he needed when Vettel
was delayed in the pits, before romping clear
to a 20-second lead. Massa took fifth after just
missing out in a battle with Hamilton.
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